When it comes to holiday parties, every gal out there wants to look sparkly and polished. We all want to look like a million bucks, but on a collegiette™ budget, we also don’t want to spend that much. Salon appointments are often expensive and appointments book up faster than you can say “Happy Holidays!” but you can pamper and polish for less money and less hassle.
I recently visited the Empire Beauty School in Malden, Mass. to check out some of their services, which are often discounted up to 70% from other salons. Empire is a fun, lively place where you can get quality salon services at lower prices and I really enjoyed my experience there! Here I am with the two students that helped me get all dolled up: Emanuele Almeida-Pancini and Valquiria Kuhn.
While there, I picked up a few tips for making the most of your visit to Empire. Check them out and check out the fabulous job the Empire gals did in creating my holiday look!
Hair:
Tip: When you’re getting your hair done, come prepared. Know what you want and be vocal as well as visual to help your student create the look you crave. For instance, I wanted a look similar to this Taylor Swift hairdo, so I brought in a photo and my student hair stylist, Emanuele, was able to better visualize what I wanted.
After shampooing and conditioning my hair, Emanuele blow-dried and then curled it. We polished off the look by adding a festive flower clip from the Goody Retro Deluxe™ collection. This is a great way to step up your look and can take your hair from dull to dashing.
Here’s what my hair looked like after Emanuele worked her magic. Isn’t it gorgeous?
Check out Empire’s hair services menu for all the services they offer!
Makeup:
Tip: Bring your own makeup since not all Empire schools have makeup kits on hand.
For my holiday look, I wanted something light but feminine. I opted for a purple shadow, which Emanuele mixed with a bit of gold to add a little extra shimmer. We kept the rest of my makeup simple and let my eyes do the talking.
Here’s the finished product! Isn’t it a pretty look?
Nails:
Tip: Get creative and show, don’t tell. When it comes to nails, it’s better to show your nail artist what you want rather than tell her. Similar to hair, print out a picture or sketch what you’d like your nails to look like.
Since the theme of the day was holidays, I chose a cute and festive nail art design: snowmen!! Although I’m not a fan of snow, I am a fan of snowmen, and I couldn’t wait to see how they’d look on my fingers!
My nail artist,Valquiria Kuhn, did a fabulous job at creating the delicate yet super detailed snowmen and I got so many compliments on them over the next week!
Check out all the nail services Empire has to offer here and you can save a little extra money to buy all those holiday gifts!